BONZER WOLF™

The first Thanksgiving in North America was in 1621. No, I wasn't there! But I read that after a rich harvest, the men, women and children who had survived the first year in the New World gathered for a feast to offer thanks.

One of the pilgrims wrote at the time: "By the goodness of God, we are so far from want."

The menu for that first Thanksgiving had some surprises. It was not turkey and pumpkin pie. Historians say they probably ate fowl and venison. The pilgrims didn't have forks, they used spoons. More likely, they ate with their hands. They didn't have much sugar, so deserts, including pumpkin pie were not on the menu.

Whatever it may have involved, that meal left us with an enduring tradition: a gathering around a table, giving thanks for surviving in an uncertain and difficult new place.

A few years ago, the Unitarian minister Peter Fleck suggested we look at Thanksgiving differently. Maybe, he wrote, the pilgrims weren't thankful because they had survived. But maybe they had survived...because they were thankful. These were people who lived their lives in wonder and hope, grateful for everything, the hard winds and deep snows...the frightening evenings and hopeful mornings ...the long journey that had taken them to a new place. They knew how to express gratitude.

Maybe that spirit can teach us something, as we endure our own hard winds and deep snows - the storms of our own lives and that of our beloved nation, especially now. So as Reverend Fleck so beautifully put it, maybe the pilgrims weren't thankful because they survived.

Maybe they survived because they were thankful.

A full-blown trade row erupted on Sunday night between the US and China after Beijing accused Washington of “rampant protectionism” for imposing heavy duties on imported Chinese tires and threatened action against imports of US poultry and vehicles.

Trade relations between two of the world’s biggest economies deteriorated after Barack Obama signed an order late on Friday to impose a new duty of 35 per cent on Chinese tyre imports on top of an existing 4 per cent tariff.

In his first big test on world trade since taking office in January, Mr Obama sided with America’s trade unions, which have complained that a “surge” in imports of Chinese-made tyres had caused 7,000 job losses among US factory workers.

Obama’s decision is a clear affirmation of the power of unions in shaping trade policy. It appears that Obama is desperate to shore-up support from unions and the left of the Democratic Party for health-care reform—his most pressing domestic concern—and is prepared to risk repercussions on trade.

Beijing issued a statement Saturday sharply condemning the U.S. move.

"China strongly opposes this serious act of trade protectionism by the U.S.," the statement on the Ministry of Commerce Web site said. "This act not only violates the rules of the World Trade Organization but also violates the relevant commitments made by the U.S. government at the G-20 financial summit."

By taking "this unprecedented action, the Obama administration is now at odds with its own public statements about refraining from increasing tariffs above current levels," said Vic DeIorio, executive vice president, GITI Tire (U.S.), the largest manufacturer of tires in China.

Bloomberg News reports that Americans fell behind on their mortgage payments at a record pace in the second quarter as job losses and falling real estate prices thwarted government efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The share of loans with one or more payments overdue rose to a seasonally adjusted 9.24 percent of all mortgages, an all- time high, from 9.12 percent in the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. The inventory of homes in foreclosure increased to 4.3 percent, the most in three decades of data, and loans overdue by at least 90 days, the point at which foreclosure proceedings typically begin, rose to 7.97 percent, the highest on record.

“We’ve seen a significant drop in the problem with subprime loans and we’ve moved now to a problem with prime fixed-rate loans,” Jay Brinkmann, the Washington-based trade group’s chief economist, said in an interview. “Job losses are driving it, and we expect that to continue into next year.”

Homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments when they lose their jobs, and falling prices mean they can’t sell and pay off their loans, Brinkmann said. Companies have shed 5.7 million jobs since January 2008, the biggest employment loss since the Great Depression. The median U.S. home price fell 16 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the steepest drop on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started was 1.36 percent, down from 1.37 percent in the first quarter, driven by the decline in subprime loans. New foreclosures on prime loans increased to 1.01 percent from 0.94 percent, while subprime loans dropped to 4.13 percent from 4.65 percent, Brinkmann said.

Read the entire report here www.bloomberg.com/apps/news

Lake Las Vegas’ third and final golf course, the private Southshore Golf Course, is heading for foreclosure.

The resort, which has been in bankruptcy reorganization since July 2008, has already abandoned its two public courses, The Falls and Reflection Bay, allowing them to enter foreclosure. Though the courses are being maintained, they remain closed.

"We're still hearing from the casino operators that weekends are doing well, but filling rooms during the middle of the week is an issue," Frank Streshley, chief of the Gaming Control Board's tax and license division, said Tuesday after the agency released gaming revenues for June. "People are coming, but they are just not spending."

Nevada casinos collected $818.2 million from customers during June, a 13.8 percent decline from $949.3 million collected the same month a year ago.

The total was the lowest monthly figure since July 2004, when casinos won $813 million from gamblers. June was the 18th straight monthly decline as the gaming industry continued to be hampered by the sagging economy.

On the Strip, gaming revenues fell 14.8 percent in June to $414.5 million, compared with $486.4 million last year.

For the first six months of the year, gaming revenues are down statewide almost 13.5 percent, while the money won from gamblers on the Strip is off 14.7 percent.

June marked the end of fiscal year 2008-09 and gaming revenues for the 12 months were almost $10.8 billion statewide, a 13.7 percent decline from $12.5 billion in 2007-08. On the Strip for the fiscal year, gaming revenues declined 15.3 percent to $5.65 billion, compared with $6.67 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Visitor volume in Las Vegas continued to fall in June, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

In June, 2,980,122 visitors stayed in Las Vegas, a drop of 6.3 percent from the same month in 2008, with 3,179,472 visitors.

Las Vegas visitors seemed to respond to marketing programs and room rates discounted by 25.5 percent on average, the convention authority said. Yet the occupancy rate came in at 82.2 percent, down 7.2 percentage points from June last year.

Convention attendance dropped from 438,044 in June 2008 to 355,436 this June, an 18.9 percent drop.

Visitor numbers dropped 5.5 percent in Laughlin and by 26.2 percent in Mesquite in the month of June, the convention authority said.

Housing market conditions in Las Vegas remain softer than a week-old banana. 

Bank-owned properties continue to drive the local housing market, accounting for 73 percent of all sales. Prices are still depressed, but they're not falling by $10,000 a month like they were in late 2008 and earlier this year.

Tim Kelly Kiernan, foreclosure specialist at ReMax Pros in Las Vegas, said he thinks a tremendous amount of foreclosures are yet to come. Various reports show a few hundred notices of default being filed daily in Clark County.

He had five clients recently with great credit scores who tried to sell their homes in a short sale, or for less than the mortgage balance, which requires lender approval.

"If they aren't successful, they will just stay in the home for as long as they can, not make the mortgage payments, save that money to move forward in their lives," he said. "Not a good sign for home values, but they feel they will never recoup the lost equity in their homes."

The median price is $139,000, down $1,000 from the previous month and down $81,000 from a year ago.

Of the 35,758 home sales recorded since July 2008, 26,653 are real estate-owned, or bank-owned, and 3,231 are short sales, according to the title company.

 

General Motors Co said on Monday its U.S. auto sales fell 19.4 percent in July from a year earlier, but retail sales rose from the month before for a fifth consecutive month, supported by the U.S. government's "Cash for Clunkers" incentives.

GM, which emerged from bankruptcy last month after the sale of its best assets to a group led by the U.S. Treasury, said U.S. sales fell to 189,443 vehicles in July from 235,184 a year earlier. Retail sales were down only 9 percent from July 2008, but fleet sales were down 47 percent.

The result stands in contrast to a small 2.3 percent sales increase for rival Ford Motor Co, the only Detroit car maker not to pass through bankruptcy in 2009, and a 9 percent decline at Chrysler Group LLC, which emerged from bankruptcy in June.

Corporatism is the organization of our Republic into industrial and professional corporations serving as organs of the federal government with control over persons and activities executed by the political representation in Washington D.C.

GM's failure is more evidence that fascist corporatism does not work.  Your tax dollars were wasted to bail out both GM & Chrysler. FORD did not take any government money.  When will the people wake up and demand that Congress turn their backs on Obama's corporatist socialist agenda and return our economy to free market capitalism?  WE the people elect our representatives and WE must DEMAND that they follow the Constitution and represent US.

Phred Barnet of "Americanly Yours" does a great job of explaining the Obama Lemon aka Cash For Clunkers program.

"My personal opinion was that one of the reasons that this bill was passed was to protect the United States’ “investments” in [read:  theft of] General Motors and Chrysler.  It is clear to all that Congress and the Administration intended for this program to stimulate the economy and help the environment.  But I also believe that the government wanted to use this program to inflate the revenues at GM and Chrysler to make the American people less uneasy about the bailouts of those firms.  Think about it.  If you had just made a hugely unpopular move like taking over two iconic American automakers, you would do anything possible to convince the public that it was a good decision.  This includes funneling money to those companies to make their revenues look good.

My guess is that this program will actually hurt GM and Chrysler as compared to their competitors, namely Ford.  Why?  Well for one, a new Rasmussen poll found that 66% of Americans have at least “a somewhat favorable opinion of Ford.“  The same poll found that “General Motors is viewed favorably by 38%… and unfavorably by 56%”  It also found that 34% have at least somewhat favorable opinion of Chrysler “while 55% see the company unfavorably.”  The American people are angry at the other two companies for taking taxpayer funds, and Ford is now perceived as the only American automaker that isnt owned by the government.

They also make much better cars now than they used to.  I love my 2007 Ford Fusion.

In another poll that was published on the same day, Rasmussen also found that 46%of Americans are more likely to buy a Ford because they did not take a government bailout (13% said they were less likely and 37% said it didnt make a difference).  41% OF Americans also believe that quality of GM’s cars will get worse now that the government owns the company, while only 19% think it will get better."

Read more here: americanlyyours.com/

 

THE CASH FOR CLUNKERS PROGRAM IS IN CHAOS- BEING SUSPENDED.

THE "DETROIT FREE PRESS" REPORTS THAT AFTER LESS THAN FOUR DAYS IN BUSINESS, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL SUSPEND THE PLAN SAYING THAT ITS ALREADY BURNED THROUGH ITS 950 (M) MILLION-DOLLAR BUDGET. THE PLAN PROVIDED DISCOUNTS UP TO FOUR-THOUSAND-500-DOLLARS ON NEW CAR PURCHASES IF THE CAR BEING TURNED IN WAS A CERTIFIABLE GAS GUZZLER. NEARLY 23-THOUSAND TRADES HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED BY FEDERAL AUTHORITIES SINCE MONDAY, WHEN THE PROGRAM BEGAN. THE DECISION TO SUSPEND THE PROGRAM FOLLOWS WARNINGS FROM AUTO DEALERS THE GOVERNMENT WAS IN DANGER OF LOSING TRACK OF HOW MANY TRADES HAD ACTUALLY BEEN MADE. THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DID NOT IMMEDIATELY COMMENT ON ITS PLANS FOR THE PROGRAM, OR WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO DEALS IN PROGRESS.

www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/

accounting enthusiast, hipster artist, mother, authorized snark distributor, disbeliever in government, believer in regulation, potty mouth.

                                                          MUST READ DAILY

"When you look around at what America has become, I implore you, dear reader, to not feel so defeated. I know. The Fed balance sheet just reached over $2 trillion (on record), unemployment is still on the rise, they are marching out the asshats one after another to announce everything is under control, and this Obamacare shit really is going to happen.

Worse for the libertarians and market enthusiasts, we get to watch the markets get perverted and skeezed on and artificially jerked off every single day. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. No, please, no more...

Still, some of us jump in anyway and hope for the best. The traders are my heroes - especially the @StockTwits boys - and girls! - who are pretty LOL-worthy, clever, brilliant, AND entertaining. I should especially take this opportunity to thank Howard Lindzon personally, for he has advanced our efforts more than any other website, even Google. The man is a genius. (you'd think I'm winning a fucking Webby, wtf is this gay bullshit?) Anyway, if you aren't using it, you're missing out on what could be the single most useful market tool available on the Internet. I have seen many applications, mailing lists, paid lists, services, sites and tricks here in these tubes and between StockTwits and Wikinvest, you've got the picture. If you choose not to look at it yourself, I can't be held responsible for the pound of flesh that gets taken out of your ass later. I tried.

Anyway.

Don't despair, America. We're getting somewhere."

Barack Obama, self-described sports aficionado, friend of our foes, and narcissist of the year, found another golden opportunity to project himself on the world stage. He also probably noticed that his face has not yet graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. In order to correct that dreadful oversight, Obama has decided to inject himself into America's national pastime tonight.

The only modern era President NOT to have  thrown out a ceremonial first pitch at regular season MLB game has saved himself for the BIG stage at the All Star Game. Obama's Treasury Department announced yesterday that the government's annual deficit has passed $1.1 Trillion. The fiscal year will end with the deficit  north of $1.84 Trillion on September 30 according to Treasury projections.

The FOX network will employ 21 HD cameras and 80 field and crowd microphones, as well as approximately 20 microphones for players, coaches and umpires to wear. And during the FOX broadcast, the on-air team will interact with viewers via Twitter. FOX's personalities will tweet at www.twitter.com/MLBonFOX, and Rosenthal will respond to viewer tweets as well.

During the afternoon, MLB.com and FOXSports.com will even bring batting practice to fans. Starting at 4:30 p.m., fans can watch the MLB All-Star Batting Practice Show at those two Web sites, allowing fans who aren't at the ballpark to get a view of some things they don't normally see even during a game broadcast.

Last year's number was the all-time leader at the time, at $454.8 billion -- an "INHERITED" figure that now seems rather puny in comparison.

The soaring deficit is making Chinese and other foreign buyers of U.S. debt nervous, which could make them reluctant lenders down the road. It could also force the Treasury Department to pay higher interest rates to make U.S. debt attractive longer-term.

"These are mind-boggling numbers," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Smith School of Business at California State University.

Barack Obama, is already the biggest spender we've ever had in the White House. The previous champ was FDR who put the United States on the path to socialism.

Deflation is defined as a decrease in the general price level.

• It is a negative inflation rate.
  Deflation means the value of money will increase.
• Deflation is often associated with periods of negative or stagnant economic growth (Great Depression, Japanese economy in 1990s, early 2000s). In fact deflation is often used to express a declining economy

Deflation is considered harmful to economy because

1. People delay spending, hoping prices will be cheaper next year
2. Workers resist nominal wage cuts, therefore, real wages rise causing real wage unemployment.
3. Real interest rates become too high. Even interest rates of 0% cannot induce people to spend creating a liquidity trap.
4. Deflation increases the burden of debt

Look for Deflation to happen in the second half of this year and into 2010, which is going to be the financial disaster that finally wakes the public up to the ObamaNation. It's going to get worse before it gets better, but the light at the end of the tunnel will be the 2010 midterm elections. It will be the Republican's to lose. The economy, especially unemployment is going to be THAT bad thanks to Obama.

When deflation ends, hyper inflation will take over. We are going to have our own lost decade just like Japan. The U.S. lost any chance of keeping this recession under control with the election of Obama, a confirmed American Progressive with a fascist economic agenda.

I hereby petition Congress to reject any and all legislation (or regulatory action by the EPA) that would enact new energy taxes and/or establish a national cap and trade system for carbon dioxide that would, as President Obama has said, cause electricity and other energy prices to "necessarily skyrocket."

www.americansolutions.com/energytax/2009/06/the-energy-tax-how-they-voted.php

Congress is trying to skyrocket your cost of living while putting another 1 million-plus Americans out of work.  And they want to do it before the week is out.

You see, the “Cap-and-Trade” bill currently in the House is really nothing more than a thinly disguised energy tax that will hit every single American.

And now Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats are pushing this tax hike toward a vote that could come as soon as Friday.

By invasively manipulating an already over-regulated energy industry, this legislation seeks to fix an alleged problem that has recently been discredited by over 31,478 scientists -- including over 3,803 with specific expertise in atmospheric, earth, and environmental sciences.

All 31,478 of these scientists are trained to understand and evaluate the scientific data relevant to the human-caused global warming hypothesis -- and are speaking out against government “remedies.”

With this bill, Congress is once again just doing what it does best -- fleecing taxpayers to further an alarmist agenda.

You see, energy companies just pass the costs of these draconian regulations through to the consumer in the form of huge price increases.

As a result, you will pay higher gas prices, higher electric prices, and higher costs for goods.

Barack Obama has estimated the costs of this legislation to American taxpayers to be over 650 BILLION dollars over the next eight years, and that figure is no doubt just a fraction of the real cost.

But even that modest estimate amounts to hundreds of dollars a year in increased living expenses for every family -- and will more likely cost thousands a year.

And according to the Heritage Foundation, between 1.2 and 2.3 million jobs could be lost over the next ten-years due to the bill’s stifling regulations.

This current economic crisis is no time for Congress to consider both raising prices on hard-working Americans AND costing them jobs.

That’s why we must act now to send a message to Congress to reject this disastrous Cap-and-Tax Scheme.

Call your U.S. Representative now and ask for the staff member that deals with Energy policy.  Politely but firmly tell them that you are opposed to this costly government power grab.

Supporters of the legislation are of course trying to downplay the cost of this scheme to the American people.

But if the bill does not directly and massively increase energy costs to consumers, how would it possibly achieve its stated aims?

It is only through these massive cost increases -- mandated and enforced by the federal government -- that the dubious goal of reducing carbon emissions could possibly be reached.  The only alternative to huge energy price increases would be massive, government-ordered power outages, leaving Americans literally in-the-dark like some war-torn Third World Country.

Contact your Representative and voice your opposition to Cap and Trade BEFORE it is too late.   (202) 224-3121

www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

Mr. Wolf is enjoying his time in Las Vegas while he can. The ObamaNation is going to be much, much worse than I ever imagined last year. My friend TG told me this was going to happen, and I said "no way". Well, WAY.  I am very sorry to say, that at this point there is no light at the end of this tunnel of economic and political disaster. At the least we are facing a lost decade.

Everyday, BO puts another nail in the coffin. Monday it was socialized medicine based on made up statistics and Obama Facts, which, in reality are all lies and distoritions. Today, it's the over haul of the financial regulation's system, which takes us from bad to worse, as does everything that BO touches.

 Enjoy life in America while you can. We are not even close to hitting bottom. Open your eyes. Stop being Obama Sheep. Unemployment, taxes, government spending, trillion dollar deficits, and radical Islamists are all on the rise.  Unfortunately, it appears, we as a nation will have to hit rock bottom before we decide to try and stop this bullet train to fascism and class war far.

I worked for the federal government from 1976-2008.  FEAR this continued and rapid federal expansion and control. Get  your money OUT of the stock market NOW.  Convince the Republican Party that our only hope is returning to the values and constitutionally sound policies advocated by the Libertarian Party.  Seriously, we are a nation in trouble. This is the calm before the storm.

Mr. Wolf is in Las Vegas until June 25. Follow my adventures on Twitter    twitter.com/BonzerWolf

The New York Times does not get it right most of the time and they published this article only to show support for socialism. But there is a lesson here that even in a socialist democracy fiscal responsibility is required to succeed and survive long term.

In the midst of the worst global downturn since the Depression, Norway’s economy grew last year by 3%. The government enjoys a budget surplus of 11 percent.  By comparison, the U.S. is expected to chalk up a fiscal deficit this year equal to 12.9 percent of its GDP and push its total debt to $11 trillion, or 65 percent of the size of its economy.

Norway is a relatively small country with a largely homogeneous population of 4.6 million and the advantages of being a major oil exporter. It counted $68 billion in oil revenue last year as prices soared to record levels. Even though prices have sharply declined, the government is not particularly worried. That is because Norway avoided the usual trap that plagues many energy-rich countries.

Instead of spending its riches lavishly, it passed legislation ensuring that oil revenue went straight into its sovereign wealth fund, state money that is used to make investments around the world. Now its sovereign wealth fund is close to being the largest in the world, despite losing 23 percent last year because of investments that declined.

Norway’s relative frugality stands in stark contrast to Britain, which spent most of its North Sea oil revenue — and more — during the boom years. Government spending rose to 47 percent of G.D.P., from 42 percent in 2003. By comparison, public spending in Norway fell to 40 percent from 48 percent of G.D.P.

The ObamaNation paid lip service to "pay go" at BO's daily live TV appearance. Of course his lips were moving, so he is lying. "Tax & Spend" and  the "Great American Entitlement"  are destroying the greatest country in the world. The USA is NOT to big to fail.  BO needs to learn a lot before he can lead this country from the Great Recession.  Perhaps he can start with the socialist Finance Minister of a tiny country which has thrived in a big way by being fiscally responsible and practicing capitalism.

Eirik Wekre, an economist who writes thrillers in his spare time, describes Norwegians’ feelings about debt this way: “We cannot spend this money now; it would be stealing from future generations.”

Norway Thrives by Going Against the Tide - NYTimes.com

Last week, General Motors finally declared bankruptcy.  Many in government thought $20 billion in taxpayer dollars would save the company, but as predicted, it only postponed the inevitable.  The government will dump another $30 billion into GM and take a 60 percent controlling interest for it.  Public officials are now involving themselves in tactical business decisions such as where GM’s headquarters should move and what kind of cars it will build.

The promise that this is temporary and will eventually be profitable is supposed to ease the American people into accepting this arrangement, but it is of little comfort to those who remember similar promises when the American taxpayers bought Amtrak.  After three years, government was supposed to be out of the passenger rail business.  40 years and billions of dollars later, the government is still operating Amtrak at a loss, despite the fact that they have created a monopoly by making it illegal to compete with Amtrak.  Imagine what they can now do to what is left of the great American auto industry!

Read what Ron Paul has to say about Fascist America under the ObamaNation.

GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America

The government effectively owns General Motors and controls Chrysler, and the president is deciding what kind of cars they can make. Uncle Sam owns majority stakes in American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and controls large chunks of the banking industry. Also, President Obama wants government to take over the business of student loans. And he’s pushing for nationalized health care.

Meanwhile, his Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that it reserves the right to regulate any economic activity that has a “carbon footprint.” Just last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said climate change requires that “every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory.” Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has his eye on regulating executive pay.

Of course, nationalization of industry is only one kind of socialism; another approach is to simply redistribute the nation’s income as economic planners see fit. But wait, Obama believes in that, too. That’s why he said during the campaign that he wants to “spread the wealth” and that’s why he did exactly that when he got elected. (He spread the debt, too.)

Personally, I think socialism is the wrong word for all of this. “Corporatism” — the economic doctrine of fascism -- fits better. Under corporatism, all the big players in the economy -- big business, unions, interest groups -- sit around the table with government at the head, hashing out what they think is best for everyone to the detriment of consumers, markets and entrepreneurs. But, take it from me, liberals are far more open to the argument that they’re “crypto-socialists.”

READ THE ENTIRE COLUMN HERE:

Jonah Goldberg: Don't call it 'socialism' | TheUnion.com

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, a sign the biggest rounds of firings may be over.

Initial jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 623,000 in the week ended May 23, lower than forecast, from a revised 636,000 the prior week, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The number of people collecting unemployment insurance rose to a record in the prior week for the 17th straight time, reflecting restrained hiring.

Fewer job losses reduce the risk that consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, will falter, delaying the economic recovery projected for later this year. Still, companies will be reluctant to add workers and increase production until sales show sustained gains.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg this month projected the jobless rate, currently at a 25-year high of 8.9 percent, will climb to 9.6 percent by the end of 2009. This month’s jobs report is due June 5.

Read the rest here: 

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall 13,000 to 623,000 (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

A search online turns up rooms at Fitzgeralds Casino and Hotel for as low as $26 -- a sure sign the recession is taking a toll on Las Vegas and rates are being slashed to attract visitors.

Judy Bagley, a casino cashier who traded chips for cash and vice versa, found out about recession's toll another way.

"My supervisor came and said I had to close the booth and she was going to count me out and I was to go and meet with the manager and director," Bagley told CNN. "When I went up there they said my services were no longer needed and my job was being eliminated."

So three months ago, after more than 28 years at Fitzgeralds, she was out of work.

At Fitzgeralds the motto is "Luck of the Irish." But, by the numbers, this is hardly a lucky time in Vegas:

 

For the uninitiated, Atlas explores a future world in which the nation’s economy is collapsing because of government interference. The theme developed out of Rand’s own era: she started planning her novel in 1943, in the midst of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. But it’s no wonder that it seems relevant today. New Deal activism, which was principally responsible for prolonging the Great Depression, guides our current economic stimulators.

The Economist recently reported that Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957, is back on the bestseller lists. A week before the president’s inauguration, more people were buying it than Obama’s Audacity of Hope. 

Writing in The American  Conservative, Stephen Cox praises Isabel Paterson, one the three women largely responsible for what we call libertarian thought, and the lady whom literary critic Edmund Wilson once derided as "the last surviving person to believe in [the] quaint old notions on which the republic was founded."

The fundamental problem, Paterson proposed, is confusion of the economy with politics. In 1932, when Hoover was still in office, she said that "our ‘best minds' ... have already got the political machinery dangerously entangled with the economic system, disrupting both; and they are now demanding that the government should save them from what they've done to it."

Read more here:       Hit & Run > It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand Isabel Paterson - Reason Magazine

Buffett Dismisses Government Stress Tests, Praises Wells Fargo - Bloomberg.com


Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett dismissed the importance of the government stress tests in helping him assess banks, and said Wells Fargo & Co. will prosper no matter what the results show.

“I think I know their future, frankly, better than somebody that comes in to take a look,” Buffett said yesterday of the bank stocks that Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire owns. Regulators “may be using more of a checklist-type approach.”

The stress tests are designed to show whether 19 top financial firms need more capital to withstand a deterioration of economic conditions, and results are expected to be disclosed on May 7, according to a government official familiar with the plan. Buffett said he judges banks by their “dynamism” and their ability to attract deposits, and singled out San Francisco-based Wells Fargo as a “fabulous” company.

“If you look at Coca-Cola today, for example, and just looked at a balance sheet, it wouldn’t tell you anything at all about Coca-Cola,” the billionaire investor said in a Bloomberg Television interview before Berkshire’s annual meeting at Omaha’s Qwest Center. “It’s what the product is.”

Wells Fargo is Berkshire’s second-largest holding by market value after Coca-Cola Co. and the biggest bank on the U.S. West Coast. Berkshire also owns stakes in Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, as well as U.S. Bancorp, M&T Bank Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. Buffett has praised Wells Fargo for gathering funds at a low cost and taking fewer lending risks than competitors.

Competitive Advantages

“All banks aren’t alike by a long shot, and in our view Wells Fargo, among the large banks, has some advantages the others do not,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual meeting.

Wells Fargo has declined 33 percent this year on the New York Stock Exchange on concern the bank will take losses on loans acquired with the purchase of Wachovia Corp. The bank slashed its dividend 85 percent in March, reducing investment income for Berkshire.

Wells Fargo stock closed at $19.61 May 1 after falling below $9 in March. Buffett said he was speaking to a class the day the shares dropped that low and told students that, at such a price, “If I had to put all of my net worth into stock, that would be the stock.”

U.S. banks can’t be viewed indiscriminately, Buffett said, citing “real differences,” such as varying costs of funding, that separate strong lenders from their weaker rivals. Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo have “lots of equity,” he said. All three are among the companies on the stress test list.

Record Attendance

The annual meeting gave Buffett and Vice Chairman Charles Munger a platform to discuss markets, the economy and Berkshire’s businesses. A record 35,000 people filled the Qwest Center arena, its overflow rooms and a ballroom at a hotel across the street as the two fielded questions concerning Buffett’s replacement, Berkshire’s investments and its derivative bets on the world’s stock markets.

Berkshire, with a U.S. stock portfolio of $51.9 billion, has been pressured as equity markets dropped and U.S. unemployment rose to its highest in 25 years. Berkshire shares have plunged 31 percent in the past 12 months, and profit has fallen in five-straight quarters through the end of 2008 on deteriorating results at insurance units and liabilities from the derivatives.

Earnings Slump

Buffett said yesterday that first-quarter operating earnings fell to about $1.7 billion from $1.9 billion in the same period a year earlier. The figure, which doesn’t count some investment results, declined as the recession weighed on Berkshire businesses that make building materials and sell jewelry and furniture.

Utilities and insurance operations fared better, with Berkshire’s Geico Corp., the third-largest auto insurer in the U.S., adding about 505,000 new policyholders in the first four months of the year, Buffett said.

Buffett said that book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, declined in the first quarter, in part because of losses on derivatives the firm sold on corporate debt. Those losses have since partially reversed, he said. Berkshire is scheduled to release complete results, including a figure for net income, on May 8.

Buffett and Munger have used recent meetings to promote Berkshire as a buyer of non-U.S. businesses and distinguish their operations from what they consider the sometimes reckless behavior they see on Wall Street. Their pronouncements reach shareholders, potential customers and ratings firms.

Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings cut Berkshire’s top AAA credit rating in the last two months, a move that “has no economic impact” on Berkshire, Buffett said in the interview before the meeting began.

“It just doesn’t,” he said. “We don’t use borrowed money in any real significant sense. My pride may be wounded just a bit.”